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Gravitational waves according to Planck

Data from the ESA satellite measure the BICEP2 observation

Scientists of the Planck collaboration, and in particular the Trieste team, have conducted a series of in-depth checks on the discovery recently publicised by the BICEP2 project (the Antarctic observatory), which announced last spring that it had detected some direct effects of gravitational waves on cosmic microwave background radiation, a (potentially) groundbreaking discovery in the field of cosmology. Many scientists raised doubts: could the signal observed be the result of contaminants? The BICEP2 scientists exclude this possibility, but analysis of the Planck satellite data demonstrates that the effect of contaminating sources, such as gases from our Galaxy, cannot be ruled out.